UP Govt has money for cars, but not for women’s safety

The news of Uttar Pradesh Government downsizing the budget allocation for state women's commission when it has money for buying two Mercedes cars and two Land Cruiser SUVs shows the seriousness of Akhilesh Yadav Government towards women empowerment.

The Samajwadi Party government which has been consistently criticised for failing to control law and order in the state has also failed on the front of preventing crime against women.

A Right to Information (RTI) query posed by social activist Urvashi Sharma revealed that in its three years of governance the Akhilesh government has slashed the budgetary allocations made to the state women's commission.

The budget of the women's panel was cut by over by almost 85 per cent in between 2011-12 and 2013-14, the state government informed the RTI activist. In 2011-12, the commission got Rs 5.1 crore in financial grants and this went down to Rs 4.16 crore, of which Rs 3.9 crore was spent.

Officers in UP call rapes 'heinous'and 'unavoidable'

This has given the opposition BSP, BJP and Congress a chance to criticise the state government which has been consistently facing people's ire for failing to prevent increasing cases of sexual assaults against women. Several Samajwadi Party leaders have brazenly made some insensitive remarks against women every now and then.

"We condemn this move. When BSP was in power, it had started welfare scheme for the poor, Dalits and downtrodden," Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said in Lucknow.

"This is the tragedy of our time. Life of a woman is considered lower than the value of a bicycle," Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury said.

According to statistics, five rapes occurred every day in the state, but most officials prefer to call such heinous crimes ‘routine' and ‘unavoidable'.

Badaun gang rape and murder case is just the stark reminder of the atrocities against women in the state where even the police administration doesn't support victims. There have been several instances in the past when the police officials were either found making lewd comments against rape victims or refusing to register their complaints.

RTI activist Sharma said women from far-off places like Poorvanchal and Bundelkhand were finding it difficult to get justice from the commission, as neither were there funds nor the will to redress problems faced by women in the state.

CM Akhilesh Yadav who gets annoyed with the media whenever asked about the pathetic condition of law and order in the state is currently on a vacation in London. But he will have a lot to answer the moment he comes back.